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Utah nobles bow down and support tax reform while the peasants pay
Ronald Mortensen, Ph.D.
Co-Founder CitizensForTaxFairness.org
12-9-19
Late in the evening on December 9, 2019, the Utah Tax
Restructuring and Equalization Task Force approved a bill that imposes a sales
tax on gasoline, reimposes the sales tax on food and doesn’t give anyone a penny
in savings on their 2019 income taxes. Governor Herbert will now call a special
session to enact it into law.
When the time for public comment came, the subservient nobles
joined by a serf or two lined up to pay homage to their legislative masters.
The AARP, Wasatch Front Regional Council, Utah Bankers Association Utah [big
business] Taxpayers Association, Utah Association of Charter Schools, Utah
Cultural Alliance, Utah Tourism Industry, Sutherland Institute, Utah
Association of Counties, New Car Dealers of Utah, Utah Association of Realtors,
Utah Apartment Association, Construction Industry, Salt Lake Chamber, Utah
Association of Homebuilders, Utah Optometrists and others all heaped praise on
the legislators on the committee.
Just like those in the inner circle of the North Korean
dictator, they bowed down and paid tribute their masters—both in writing and
verbally during public comment. They rained down accolades on legislators for
their wisdom, their compassion and their inclusiveness—and especially for
crafting a bill that benefits Utah’s nobles and privileged serfs who feed at
the public trough at the expense of the rest of the peasants. And they each individually
pledged their unwavering support for the bill and unanimously called for a
special session—We want a special session! We want a special Session!
The choreographed show of support was so pathetic that
Representative Tim Quinn noted that the “table had been set with so many
businesses talking in favor of the bill.” He then voted against the bill because
it fails to achieve the mission assigned to the task force—create a long term
solution to the state’s revenue needs.
So, after months of work and $150,000 of taxpayer money
spent on a propaganda show to convince the citizens that their governor and
legislative masters know best, the only thing the committee was able to do was
to pass a bill that rearranges the chairs on the Titanic—in other words, to do
something pointless or insignificant that will soon be overtaken by events, or
that contributes nothing to the solution of a current problem.
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